Home sales in West inch higher in January

LOS ANGELES 
Home sales inched about 3 percent higher in the Western region of the country last month, as homebuyers set out to take advantage of temporary government tax incentives and lock in still-low mortgage interest rates.

The modest annual increase benefited from an easy comparison to January 2009 sales, which cratered in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis.

Nationally, sales rose 7 percent from January last year, without adjusting for seasonal factors, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. The median price was flat at $164,700.

In the West, the median price fell by nearly 6 percent to $203,400.

Home sales surged across the 13-state region for much of last year, powered largely by homebuyers and investors snapping up bank-owned properties in California, Arizona and Nevada.

Sales fell nationally around 33 percent from December and by nearly a quarter in the West, however.

"Sales have been dropping ... but they're not dropping as quickly as they have been in the rest of the U.S.," said Celia Chen, senior director at Moody's Economy.com.

Some of that decline was likely seasonal, but also a decline in the number of buyers racing to qualify for an $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. Lawmakers ultimately extended the deadline to April 30 and added a $6,500 incentive for repeat buyers, taking some of the urgency out of the dealmaking.

Another factor for the sequential dip in sales was the inventory of homes for sale has been shrinking.

The supply of homes on the market in the West fell in January to 6.3 months from 8.7 months a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.

"California sales were down due to lower inventory in the lower price ranges," Lawrence Yun, the trade group's chief economist, said Friday.

Throughout the West, the supply of homes under $100,000 stood at just over 3 months in January; it was around 5 months for homes below $250,000.

In markets such as San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the roster of available homes has tumbled 40 percent or more from where it was a year ago, according to The Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report, also released Friday.

"There is not enough inventory out there for the amount of buyers who want to get into the market," said Doug Sager, an agent with ZipRealty who sells homes in Oakland and San Francisco.

Still, sales improved in January across many major Western metros, according to the AP-Re/Max report, which tallies all home sales in the metropolitan statistical areas. The report counts sales filed by all real estate agents, regardless of company affiliation.

-Steepest price drop: The median home sales price in Las Vegas tumbled 20 percent from a year ago to $120,000 as homebuyers continued to snap up discounted bank-owned properties. Sales jumped 20 percent from a year earlier.

-Sharpest price gain: San Francisco, where the median price posted an annual increase of about 25 percent to $410,000.

-Biggest sales gain: Sales in Honolulu jumped about 65 percent from a year ago. The metro's median home price was essentially flat from a year ago at $418,500.